Fujimi has now released its own 1/700 Yugumo class kits. These are NEXT (snap together) kits, two in a box, colored parts, full hull option. The kits can be configured for either early or late war fit. The degaussing cable is the Uraga Dock Shipyard pattern only.

I have Fujimis Next Yamato and yes the kit is great, but also has it's downsides.As a snap kit also small parts big attachment points and a big hole where you fit it.So leaving the davits off, for example, than you have a big hole to fill on the deck.That could be a problem in the kit with the paravanes and the cutters for example.Also in the Yamato kit the big holes in the wing of the planes lead to sinkmarks. Something that wouldn't be the case in a normal kit.And for a surprise the cutter in the Yamto kit where really flat, even the ones from the old W sprue looked better.

I hope Fujimi releases a 1/700 Yugumo in their Seaway series soon. It seems like Fujimi has been investing heavily in producing snap kits (Fune Next series) and colored plastic variants (Easy series). I appreciate the company offering modelers of different abilities more choices, but I really NEED an updated, high-quality Shinano!

That review is probably about 3-4 months out, given the current backlog.

This just in from the Paul Allen expedition and the R/V Petrel, just finishing in Ormoc Bay, Phillipines. They have found one of the two Yugumo class DDs (Hamanami, Naganami) sunk during the TA 3 Operation, Nov 11, 1944. Early conjecture is that it may be Hamanami, but that's not a certainty. The ship is badly damaged forward, broken ahead of #1 TT mount. That description might actually fit Naganami's demise better, so stay tuned: